Fields' cup dream comes true

JODIE Fields must be the most understated World Twenty20-winning captain in Australian history. "It was quite stressful," she said of the nerve-jangling last over of Australia's triumph over England.

"But I knew the belief was there. We were all behind Erin Osborne bowling a good over and she came through. I knew the team could do it."

When Australia won the 2010 title in Barbados, Fields was at home on her couch in Brisbane, wearing a brace that ran all the way down her left leg. That was an even closer finish — against New Zealand — and she told herself then that she'd regain her strength and speed after twice tearing her hamstring off the bone, that she'd get back and captain this team at the next World Cup.

Now here she was, with England needing six to win from off-spinner Osborne's last ball. The over had included a full toss no-ball, pulled for three, a dropped catch by 19-year-old Jess Jonassen, a thick edge that would have been four if Jess Cameron hadn't defied the pain in her knee to chase it down, and a misfield.

Fields' belief as she crouched behind the stumps on her surgically repaired leg proved right. England's Danielle Hazell bunted a full toss to the leg side for one, sealing Australia's victory by four runs.

"Watching that [2010] match, the celebrations and the feeling they came home with, it was something I knew I wanted to be part of. I worked really hard to get back, leading this side was something I wanted to do," Fields said, after a lap of honour around Premadasa Stadium.

With the men's final to begin straight after, the ground was three-quarters full for the last few overs of the women's match and while the fans had come to see Chris Gayle and Lasith Malinga, it was impossible not be diverted as the two best teams in the world took it to the wire.

"I guess we don't always have big crowds at international women's matches, so to have a lot of Sri Lankan fans in for the men's match, running around that boundary with the World Cup in your hands, it's a great feeling," said Fields.

Even England captain Charlotte Edwards, whose team has lost just one game in its previous 25 matches, could appreciate a bigger picture.

"I just said to the Australian girls, I'm obviously disappointed that we've lost, but to play in a final, six runs [needed] off the last ball, and to see some of the shots we saw, it was a great spectacle for the women's game, so I'm very proud of that, I'm just bitterly disappointed we're not lifting the trophy."

Among the shots she marvelled at was a scoop over the shoulder for four from Australia's natural No. 3, Cameron, whose 45 from 34 balls lifted her side to a total of 142 and earned the player-of-the-match award. If the shot showed that innovation is not confined to the men, having the confidence to try it in a world cup final, for the first time, said a lot about the relaxed 23-year-old.

"We've worked a lot, to be honest, on creating new shots, and making sure you can score 360 degrees of the ground," Cameron said. "So it's taken a lot of practice and to pull it off in a game, I didn't really think about it until it happened. I knew I had it, I just didn't know when I was going to use it. That seemed to be the right ball."

It was a moment of precision in a nervy match. The Australians dropped three catches and shouldn't have let England get so close. Alex Blackwell took a blinder in one over, diving forward from cover to sneak her fingers under the ball, and missed a sitter in the next.

England had motored down 144 against Australia in the group phase at Galle, with seven wickets to spare, but couldn't repeat the effort on the big stage. Despite the differences in prizemoney and conditions, the pressure is equal for men and women in a World Cup final.

"I'd pay any amount of money to lift that World Cup," Edwards said. "Prizemoney is not the thing that motivated me and nor is the allowance money. Like I said, it will probably be something that's looked at after the event."

For the record, the Southern Stars pocket $US60,000 ($A59,000) as champions of the Women's World Twenty20, a separate tournament funded by the men's game and given a huge boost in exposure from being staged and televised alongside it. Darren Sammy's West Indies will take home $US1 million.

Neither the England nor Australian women complained about being paid a smaller daily living allowance, even if they thought it was odd.

But having defeated the strongest, most professional women's team in the world, Fields and her team probably deserved to be upgraded to business class for the flight home.

They were not.

Fields, one of a few players contracted to Cricket Australia as female ambassadors, said she had focused on the professional culture of her team, and it showed in their fitness, much improved since 2009.

She hadn't touched chocolate for a year; but can allow herself an indulgence now.